Don't forget me
by stevieLUVSAlex
Summary: Liv hasn't seen El in five years, but one fateful night they meet up on the streets. Who is El dating? The story is better than the summary. EO shipping
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am SOOOOOO sorry, I accidently posted the wrong chapter. Thanks for correcting me people!**

 **I am not sure this direction has been done before, but I know that EO reunions have been done to death (and why wouldn't they be?) So, expect a reunion but this a different take on it.**

"Night, Liv!" Finn called out, as he waved over his shoulder on the way out of the precinct. "Don't stay too late."

Liv smiled, thinking of Noah. _I don't intend to._

She finished the last paragraph of her paperwork and then packed up and headed out. The air was a subtle warmth outside, perfect for walking in. she looked up at the dark sky, grateful to be alive. Not a day went by that she didn't cherish. Sure, life had its ups and downs, but with Noah and work, Liv found a solid reason for enjoying life.

She rounded the corner and up ahead she saw a familiar figure.

Her heart started thumping. It couldn't be, could it?

Each step brought them closer together and once they both recognised each other, they slowed their pace until they came to a standstill in front of each other.

"Liv," he said with one puff of breath.

Liv tried to calm her beating heart. Numerous people called her 'Liv' but only he ever said her name like that, like it meant something, like she was important. It wasn't just a name when it said it, it was attached to an infinite amount of affection.

"Hi, El," she greeted, finding her voice.

He looked much the same, though he had more wrinkles around his eyes and he looked tired and defeated as if life had treated him unkindly. Liv's heart ached at the thought. She liked thinking that he was happily married to Kathy, sharing the life they were supposed to.

"How have you been?" he asked.

"Good," she smiled. She wanted to tell him about Noah, but it seemed too soon to explain how she had come to adopt him. It wasn't the kind of conversation she wanted to be having in the middle of the street. It was more of a cup-of-coffee conversation. "How are you?"

"I'm-"

"Hi. I'm Kate," a voice said, breaking through their connection.

Liv turned to see a woman standing beside El. Had she been standing there to entire time? Liv's gaze settled on their hands clasped together and she felt a stab of jealousy. It had been five long years since they'd seen each other. Liv had just assumed that he had gone back to Kathy, and given that he had given up his career that she would have taken him back.

Obviously not.

"Liv, this is my..." his voice trailed off.

" _Girlfriend_ ," the woman answered with an air of irritation.

Liv suspected as much.

The woman had short brown-ish red hair and brown eyes. There was no mistaking that she was a beautiful woman, in a natural unshowy kind of way, and why wouldn't she be? El had always had fair taste in women. But there was something strangely familiar about her, as if they had met before... somewhere.

"I'd like to get a cup of coffee sometime..." he said awkwardly. "I feel like I have some things to explain and-"

"We have to go," Kate said, tugging on El's arm. "It was nice meeting you Lisa."

"Olivia," she corrected.

"Yeah. See you."

El looked back over his shoulder as he was dragged away and mouthed 'I'll call you'.

Liv felt her chest tighten as he disappeared into the night.

As she headed home to Noah, she couldn't stop thinking about Kate.

Where on earth did she know her from?

Liv wondered if she even wanted El to call her, or if he would. Perhaps too much time had passed and this was how it was now. People came and went, it was a fact of life.

 **Thanks for reading. Leave a review if you'd like (I know I would LOVE it ;-))**

 **Wanna guess why Kate is SO familiar?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks a heap for the reviews, alerts and favourites. ;-). On to the next chapter, then... after all, you didn't pick this story to hear me ramble on, and I have been known to do that on occasion. Hey! Have you heard the news about a GILMORE GIRLS reboot?! Just saying...**

Liv was just coming back from a break when she walked into the bullpen.

"Liv," Finn called out, holding up the phone from his desk. "A call for you?"

"Ok, thanks."

She headed straight for her office. "Be prepared," he warned.

"Why?"

Finn looked her over as if he expected her to fall apart.

"It's El."

Liv nodded and pushed open her office door. "It's ok. I've been expecting it. Thanks, Finn."

He gave her an encouraging smile and she went into the office and shut the door.

Liv took a deep breath before she picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Hi," she greeted.

"Hey," he sighed. He sounded relieved. "I didn't know if you'd want to take the call, given how I left things."

"The first time or the second?" she asked bitterly. Liv hadn't meant for the words to come out sounding so harsh, but she had no intention of apologising.

"Both," he answered. "I'm sorry about Kate. I wasn't happy with the way she-"

"Its fine," she assured him.

Liv was hardly upset by some stranger's reaction to her and she certainly hadn't lost any sleep over it, but she had realised why Kate was so familiar. She had spent hours picturing her face, trying to find the answers in the back of her subconscious until the penny dropped, and Liv realised that the woman was an uncanny resemblance to _her_ and a smile played on her lips. Was El aware of that? Had he purposely picked someone who looked like his old partner, in some attempt to hold onto his old life? Liv would have willingly see him any time she wasn't working. They could have remained friends. El didn't have to walk out on her without so much as a goodbye.

"I want to see you," he stated matter-of-factly.

"And how does your _girlfriend_ feel about that?"

"I am a grown man, and since when have I allowed a woman to tell me what to do?"

Liv didn't know if her heart was strong enough to deal with losing him twice. It had been hell for two whole years, before she managed to pull herself out of the darkness. He hadn't just left her, he had severed all ties without warning, without explanation, and she had been left wondering how little he thought of her, when he had always had her entire heart in his hands.

" _Please_ ," he begged.

And just like that, she felt like she had been dragged back to the past, back to the days when all he had to do was ask.

"I know I have a lot of explaining to do, so let me do that. _Please_."

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok."

"Thank you. I'll fit in anywhere you need me to. You pick the time and place."

Liv looked at her watch. If she went now she didn't have a chance to fill her head with reasons and excuses. She could just get it over and done with, have the answers she needed and get on with her life and let him get on with his. Liv didn't expect this to turn into a friendship of the past.

"Ok, meet me now!"

After she hung up, Finn knocked on her office, as if he had been waiting the whole time. "What's up?"

"How long has he been back on the scene?"

"A few hours. I saw him during lunch break by fluke."

"Oh. Be careful, Liv. I'm sure he had his reasons for walking out and all, but I don't want you to go through that... pain, all over again. I couldn't stand watching that."

"I know. I'll be fine."

"He's your kryptonite, Liv. Just saying..."

"Thanks. I got it," she smiled. She appreciate his concern but she was a grown adult and she knew what she was doing.

Liv sat across from him in an old café they used to go to for lunch. She had eaten in other places since his absence, not wanting to think about the pain it caused when she allowed herself to dwell on what _had_ been. But with him sitting across the table, it somehow felt right.

That terrified her.

"You never called me," she said quietly, nursing an iced tea.

"You didn't call me either," he shrugged.

"You left, El. Did you expect me to chase after you? Is that what you wanted?"

"No, I- no. I just- I'm just saying that you didn't reach out to me either. I was pretty messed up after the shooting and I couldn't really deal with anything or anyone. It wasn't personal."

"It was very personal to me."

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just couldn't live with what I'd done and keep going to same way. I knew the moment it happened that my old life was over."

"And I was a part of that?" she asked, wanting to understand.

El stabbed his cake with a fork. "Yes."

"I deserved an explanation after all the years we were partnered together. You were the only man I... you broke me, El. You shattered my heart beyond repair that only one man in the world was able to repair the damage you did."

"What's his name?" he asked, clenching his jaw.

Was he jealous, she wondered? Did he care that someone else had been able to make her happy, even if that someone else was a child?

"Noah," she answered.

"You happy?"

"I'm very happy," she smiled. "He's everything I ever wanted. I could not love him more. He's my whole world."

"Good," he nodded. "I'm glad you're happy."

She didn't feel like explaining the whole truth to him. Not yet.

"Are you happy, El?" she wanted him to be, he hadn't left her so bitter that she didn't want that for him.

"Sometimes," he shrugged. "Not really. I- I miss you."

Liv closed her eyes trying not to let her heart rule here. She had made that mistake once, and it had nearly destroyed her. "She looks like me, you know..." Liv said, deliberately skimming over his comment.

"Who?" he frowned.

"Kate. We could be twins."

El scoffed. "You don't look anything alike. She's-"

"Same hair cut I had before you left. Same facial structure, same weight, same height, same natural look. All these things can't be coincidence."

"They are," he insisted. "She's _nothing_ like you."

Liv rose from the table and grabbed her bag. "Good, then you don't have to worry about walking out on her, do you?" she left the café before he could make a reply.

 **Ooooooh, Liv is NOT happy.**

 **Review if you think it's worth a comment (good or bad are always appreciated)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: LAST chapter Fanficers (I don't tend to write long ones since my attention span is super short)! Thanks for reading and reviewing. It makes me very happy to spread a little joy where I can. Sorry that I took so long to update. :-)**

"LIV! WAIT!" El called out.

She quickened her pace as she heard him running up behind her. Liv couldn't go through this again, and she was a fool to think she could control her emotions. El had a way of making her fold by simply looking at her. He was dangerous and if she let him, he was going to kill her.

Liv had Noah to think about now, she couldn't afford for him to come along and take another crack at her heart. It would not survive a second time, not with El.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. "Damn it, Liv! Hold on a second!"

Liv pulled her arm free. Finn was right El was her kryptonite. "I _can't_ do this with you! Do you understand, El? I can't let you destroy me."

Her words hit him hard. "I don't want to destroy you. I wanna..."

El reached out and grabbed her arm again, and she shook him off. " _Don't_. I don't have the strength to go through this again. I barely survived it the first time, and I hate myself for it."

"For what?" he frowned. He obviously didn't understand.

"For not being able to put myself back together. Noah saved me." And she was so grateful to him for that, and for a thousand other reasons.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," he sighed.

"Are you? Or did you just replace me?"

"I didn't- she's not..."

"She _is_ , El."

El shook his head. "I don't see her the way I see you. At first, maybe I thought she looked like you a little bit, but when I got to know her she was... she's not loyal like you, or smart like you, or strong like you. She talks too much. She doesn't pull me up on my crap, not the way you did. I don't see you when I look at her. I see you every time I close my eyes."

Liv's heart started beating in her chest. "What are you saying?"

"I tried to get over you and I couldn't," he shrugged. "I left my job, but I couldn't leave you. I'm not happy, Liv. I haven't been happy since the minute I shot that kid. I don't want to make you sad anymore. I would kill myself before I caused you anymore pain. I don't want to come between you and Noah or break you up, I- that's not what I want."

"So what _do_ you want?"

"You. It's always been you. Kathy knew it. I knew it. I'm convinced you knew it too."

"Why now? You had twelve years to say something, to _do_ something."

"I guess I had to be without you to know what I was missing. I always had you, and I just assumed you'd always be there. I know it was my fault, I was the one you left and I could have called you. I just figured it would eventually pass. Withdrawal symptoms or whatever."

"And what did you learn while we were apart?' she smiled, enjoying the way he shifted awkwardly on his feet. He was uncomfortable with this conversation, but El never had been good at expressing his feelings, unless it was to a wall or someone's face.

"I love you now as much as I did the first time I saw you. I feel like I knew you for a lifetime before that and I get that same feeling now. I love you. I always have. I want to be in your life again, whatever that means for you."

"And mini me? What about her?"

"It's over. The minute she saw you she knew. I guess I talk in my sleep..." he blushed.

Liv tried to supress her smile, but the thought made her giddy.

"If you have moved on and you don't see me that way or-"

Liv bridged the gap between them and pressed a kiss to his mouth. Instantly, he responded, drawing her up against his chest and folding her into his arms. Liv melted against him. It was a fairy tale ending she had given up a long time ago, a life she was certain she had left behind.

It was obvious by the way she was exploring his tongue that she hadn't.

He trailed kisses across her face. Liv had never wanted a man so much in her life, it was hard to believe that anyone could desire a man as strongly as she did in this moment. Liv drew away. "I think we should get off the streets," she smiled.

"Yeah," he laughed. "We don't want to be arrested for indecent exposure. Your place or mine?"

"Mine. You have to meet Noah."

El pulled back. " _Seriously_?"

"I can't see you if you don't get along with Noah. He is in my life and he always will be. He's become too important to me. He keeps grounded and sane and-"

El frowned. "Is he a dog?"

"No. He's a man... sort of."

"A cardboard cut-out?" he probed.

Liv grinned and took his hand leading him towards a taxi. Liv knew she was crazy to jump into this with both feet, and it was certainly out of character considering what he had put her through. Unfortunately when love was involved, it all came out in moron.

"What if he doesn't like _me_?" he asked worriedly.

"He will. Noah will be happy as long as I'm happy."

El smiled. "How _old_ is Noah?"

Liv just laughed.

THE END!

 **Thank you again for reading! Have a wonderful day!**

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